


Family Night on the Waverider

by by_heart



Series: Life on the Waverider [5]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 04:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14441853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/by_heart/pseuds/by_heart
Summary: Ava's first family dinner with the Legends





	Family Night on the Waverider

“Knock knock,” Nate said to announce himself as he stepped into the doorway of Sara’s room. He found Ava there alone, curled up in a comfy chair, reading. She looked up from her book at him. “Hey, where’s Captain?”

“Star City. Oliver needed her help with something. Said she’d be back in an hour or so.”

He pursed his lips. “Guess we’ll yell at her later, then.” He turned and waved for her to follow. “Everyone else is waiting. Let’s go.”

Ava tilted her head slightly, giving him a puzzled look. “Go where?”

“Galley. Our turn to cook. Well, me, Zari, and Sara, but it looks like you’ll be taking her place.” He waited expectantly for her to move.

Ava sat up and held her book in her lap with her thumb holding her place. “Nate,” she raised an eyebrow at him, “say things that make sense.”

“Family dinner.” He strode into the room and grabbed Ava’s hand. “We’re cooking.” He pulled her up, barely giving her time to toss her book on the chair behind her. “Mick is already hangry, so wasting time is not a good idea.” He tugged her out the door and let go of her hand once he could feel her following.

The sight in the galley was an unfamiliar one to Ava. Zari was pulling actual food from the refrigerator, Ray was setting the table, and Amaya was making what looked like margaritas. Everyone was gathered around drinking and talking.

“Family dinner,” Ava muttered with a smile. She washed her hands and happily took whatever task Nate offered. She socialized and drank and enjoyed seeing this new side of everyone. By the time they sat down to eat, Ava had forgotten how her relationship with the Legends began and how the ship used to feel so cold and uninviting to her. It was a home. These people were a family. And they had decided she was a part of that somewhere along the way. 

There was a great deal of organized chaos at the dinner table. It took almost an hour to prepare dinner, so most of them had more than one drink already and were talking freely. And more loudly because they were all talking over each other and somehow carrying on at least four conversations at once. But everyone seemed to be following along. Dishes were being passed as everyone served themselves and occasionally the person seated next to them. No dish was passed all the way around the table in an orderly fashion, though. Some would make it all the way along one side, but most were zig-zagged back and forth across the table or around the backs of chairs or over someone’s head. Ava was amazed that food didn’t wind up on the floor. 

Sara’s seat at the head of the table was still empty, so Ava turned to her right and waited for the pan of roasted vegetables to come her way. Mick’s back was to her as he held the dish for Wally. When he turned to Ava, he pulled away from her when she tried to reach for the pan. 

“It’s hot. I got it.”

Ava noticed that he was still wearing his leather gloves and nodded as she took the spoon and served herself. “Thank you. Would you like some?” she pointed to his plate.

“Just a little.”

Ava suspected that he was just trying hard to be polite because she cooked, as she’d never actually seen him consume vegetables before. She put a small scoop on his plate and returned the spoon to the dish so he could set it out of the way. 

Multiple conversations continued around the table as they ate. It was loud, everyone was laughing, everyone was having a good time, and the food was amazing. Ava smiled as she thought about the way Nate grabbed her hand and said “family dinner” earlier. Like it was normal. He wasn’t leaving that room without her even though Sara wasn’t there. She was part of their group, not just Sara’s girlfriend. She was someone they wanted to share an evening with, someone they wanted to talk to, someone they valued and wanted to have around. 

The only thing she knew of family was implanted in her mind when she was created. Her “family” were hired actors who didn’t know anything about her and were told to pretend and make up memories for her. They didn’t know her at all, and she suspected they didn’t care about her beyond the money they got to play a part in her fictitious life. She never felt connected to them and always figured she was someone who didn’t need a family. She had her job - she was highly accomplished - and her few friends, and that was enough. 

She didn’t realize she needed more than that until Sara came along. Sara and the Legends. A group of misfits who made her job necessary and did nothing but create headaches in her day. But she envied them. The more she had to interact with them, the more she had to work with them, the more she saw the way they flowed as if they could read each other's minds… she wanted that so much. She saw something rare and pure in them, something she was sure many people didn’t get to experience in their lives. They were a chosen family. Regardless of how they all came together, they chose to stay. It was something far more special than could be created by biological bond alone. 

And now they had chosen her to be a part of that. They wanted her. 

Ava was shaken out of her thought when she felt a kiss to the top of her head. Sara was unzipping the jacket of her Canary suit and draping it over the back of her chair as she sat down. 

“Hey,” Ava smiled. “How was Star City?”

Before Sara could answer, Ray spoke over everyone. “I hope you know we haven’t forgotten your rule,” he looked at the captain. “Bailing on family night earns bathroom duty for a month.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sara waved him off. “Bottom of the chore barrel for me. How about passing the carbs this way? I worked up an appetite.”

Ray picked up a dinner roll and tossed it to the other end of the table. Sara caught it, dropped it on her plate, then stuck her hand back up. When Ray raised an eyebrow in question, she nodded. “We were fighting a former member of the League of Assassins. I’m hungry.” Ray tossed two more her way, then everyone began passing dishes again so Sara could eat, as well as let everyone else start on seconds if they were still hungry.

Everyone was finishing up, several people had scooted their chairs back to slouch down after over-indulging, and the last bottle of wine on the table was empty. Mick was absently picking at the few bites of food left on his plate when he finally decided to face the small pile of vegetables. He made a face as he brought the fork to his mouth, but took the bite. Ava was just about to tell him he didn’t have to eat them, but then his eyes went wide. “Hey! This doesn’t taste like a vegetable!” He looked over at Ava. “This is really good!” He shoveled in the two bites still left on his plate, then pointed to the serving dish that still had a few helpings left. “Gimme that.”

Once Mick finished off the veggies, they decided it was time to clean up. When Ava picked up her plate, Sara put a hand on her arm. “Leave it. We take turns. Someone else has it covered.” Sara pushed her chair back and stood, stretching her arms over her head. “I would suggest grabbing another drink though.” She collected her jacket from the back of the chair and picked up her own wine glass. “No matter what game we play, you’re gonna want more alcohol.”

“Game?” Ava wondered. 

Sara smirked. “This night is far from over.” She turned to leave, so Ava grabbed her own glass and followed while a few people stayed behind to clean up.

“So how long has this been going on?” Ava asked when they got to Sara’s room. “This family night thing?” She dropped into the chair she had been forced to vacate a couple hours earlier.

Sara began changing out of her Canary suit. “It started after Martin died. It wasn’t really intentional, I think we just needed to not be alone with our grief and kept gravitating toward each other. It morphed into this whole thing after a while. At least a couple times a month, we have a sit-down dinner with real food, play some games, watch a movie… just make a point of spending some uninterrupted time together. We don’t exactly have normal lives or normal families, so it’s been good for us to work at keeping our weird little family together.”

“So making me cook, was that part of the initiation process into this weird little family?” Ava wondered as she watched Sara change into a pair of sweats.

“They made you cook?” Sara laughed. “I told Nate to ask Amaya to take my turn this week. Figured he’d enjoy the opportunity to be squished into our small kitchen with his girlfriend.” She began straightening out her Canary suit to be hung up. “They were just supposed to invite you to dinner and try not to scare you off until I got back.”

Ava’s eyes went wide. “Nate came in here acting like he didn’t know you were gone, then dragged me out of this chair and insisted I help with dinner.”

Sara dropped the suit on the bed and gave Ava the softest smile. “Guess they think you’re a keeper.” She took a few steps and settled on Ava’s lap. “It’s a pretty high compliment that they wanted you there.”

“It felt like it,” Ava nodded. “And I had a great time.”

“I’m glad.” Sara leaned down to kiss Ava. “Now, don’t get too comfy. Games next. And probably a movie. We’ll be lucky to get to bed by two o’clock.”

“Can’t wait,” Ava smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't the end, but it'll be the last post for a few weeks as I'm having surgery tomorrow and won't be able to write for a little while. I do have more ideas for this series (and others not in this series). And I'm happy to take requests as well. So hopefully I'll be right back to it as soon as I'm recovered!


End file.
